How to Play Poker Full Time

Transitioning from part time to full time poker playing is a skill as much as it is a job. Playing poker full time is a mentally and physically draining job that is not suggested unless you really have the heart to put in tons of hours of hard work. Tons of work is an understatement. If you look to be the best you have to put in more hours every week and really get after it. You can often times find yourself sitting at a computer or in a casino for a month without even realizing it. Poker can and will consume your life if you let it. The hardest part of becoming a full time poker player is adjusting your schedule. First off you have to make a schedule, and this is a massive challenge for even the best poker players, who have been around the game the longest. Making a schedule is a challenge because once you take on poker full time you want to play all the time and you very easily can do that. The one thing you have to realize is that there are other things to do besides play poker every day. You have to stay in shape because if you sit at a table or a computer for 15 hours every day, you will certainly be out of shape after a month or two. Going for a run here and there and maintaining a solid routine will allow you to have more success when playing poker full time. Also, having a steady diet and avoiding things such as alcohol or nicotine and drugs are all things that will not help you in the long run. Although it is alright sometimes to take the edge off, you don’t want to start bad habits when playing poker. You ideally want to have winning and clean successful habits.

Playing poker part time is something almost all poker players in the world today think they do or would like to do at some point. Playing part time is something that most players who get the itch do once in a while. The part time poker player has a steady job and consistent money and they lack the stability to play poker full time. Poker is such a draining game and you could win for days until you have a bad session. The part time poker player sees short term results and indeed hopes they translate into long term results. What this player doesn’t realize is the hours you have to put in to have long term success. You need to play thousands of hours of poker to have the skills necessary to do it for a job. Poker is the hardest way to make an easy living and this remains true today. If you are a good poker player and play full time, you can make consistent money and just get by, but if you are a good player that wants to be great, you can do it and you should go for it. The hunger to have success is what drives the best players in the world to maintain their status at the top of the poker world.

Getting to the top of the poker world is nice, but you also have to realize that only 1% of poker players in the world are truly recognized as the best. The top professionals are who everyone looks at to be like. You may just be satisfied with winning consistent small amounts of money every week, but what you should realize in the long run is that you can do as much as you want, and you will go as far as you are capable of going. The tough thing with poker is you could not win a poker tournament for a year or two and then all of a sudden win 3 or 4 in a matter of a couple of weeks. Maintaining the confidence to succeed will indeed help you stay as a professional poker player. The difference between playing part time and full time is the hours and time invested in poker. If you invest time and money and you are a great player you will see great results in the long run, and you should never be discouraged over lulls or bad runs that you go on. Set goals and limits and stick to them and you will be a successful professional poker player.